TRADE IDEA: Inflation protection and the right tail

Many modern day portfolios currently rely on high yielding instruments in the bonds, equities and real estate universes, to make up for the lack of return elsewhere. Such overweighting stems from decades of outperformance relative to other asset classes and the recency bias that ensues. Can we rely on the same assumptions going forward? Is the tide turning for inflation, interest rates and the commodities complex?

THE ACADEMIC VIEWPOINT: What we cannot know

Every week headlines proclaim the latest scientific breakthroughs. Numerous mathematical problems, once regarded as indecipherable, have now been solved. Is it possible that one day we will know everything? Or are there limits to what we can discover about our physical universe? And if so, how do we cope with living in a universe where there are things that will for ever transcend our understanding? Professor du Sautoy will lead the audience on a thought-provoking expedition to the furthest reaches of modern science to find out if there’s anything we truly cannot know.

Marcus du Sautoy has received a number of awards for his work including the London Mathematical Society’s Berwick Prize for outstanding mathematical research. He has been awarded an OBE for his services to science and was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Guest Speaker: Marcus du Sautoy (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and holds an OBE for his services to science)

Lunch Break

RESEARCH: Volatility and the alchemy of risk

The Ouroboros, a Greek word meaning ‘tail devourer’, is the ancient symbol of a snake consuming its own body in perfect symmetry. In extreme heat, a snake is unable to differentiate its own tail from its prey, and will attack itself, self-cannibalizing until it perishes.

The Ouroboros is a metaphor for the financial alchemy driving the modern bear market in fear. Volatility across asset classes is at multi-generational lows. A dangerous feedback loop now exists between ultra-low interest rates, debt expansion, asset volatility, and financial engineering that allocates risk based on that volatility. Alchemy is the only way to feed our global hunger for yield, until it kills the very system it is nourishing.

Manager Speaker: Chris Cole (Founder, Artemis Capital Management LP)

ERA OF DIGITAL DISRUPTION: Is technology rewriting the rules of investment?

Coffee Break

THE POLITICAL DEBATE: Geopolitical volatility

Robert Fisk, a multi award-winning Middle East correspondent for The Independent will be presenting his unique perspective on the conflict in Syria and insight into what we are not hearing from the mainstream media.

Guest Speaker: Robert Fisk (Middle East Correspondent, The Independent)

PANEL DISCUSSION: In the current environment, should investors prioritise hedging or reduce exposure? Can volatility strategies offer a viable/cost effective solution?

- Why do most investors tend to be short volatility in their overall portfolio? Do volatility strategies offer diversification, crisis-protection or both?

- Are volatility strategies better implemented actively or passively? How do you deal with those opportunities but also with the classic challenges of being long volatility?

- Where do you currently find the best trade opportunities in volatility? Are there particularly interesting trades resulting from the skew?

- Which regions or asset classes currently offer the best opportunities?